Los Angeles Clippers: The Lou Williams All-Star debate
Lou Williams is having a career year with the Los Angeles Clippers and is running away with the Sixth Man of the Year award. Can he make the All-Star game?
The Los Angeles Clippers are in the midst of an up-and-down season. Their hot start quickly turned into a miserable stretch coinciding with Milos Teodosic‘s injury. Every opening night starter has missed time due to injury. Even DeAndre Jordan has missed time due to injury for the first time in his career. However, the Clippers have managed to hang around the playoff picture due to one constant shining force: Lou Williams.
Williams, who turned 31 during this season, is having the best season of his career in his 13th year as a pro. After a scorching hot run in December and January, Williams is averaging 23.3 points per game on the best efficiency of his career.
While Williams does struggle on the defensive end, he is the unquestioned reason why the Clippers are in the playoff race instead of chasing lottery balls. With Blake Griffin back in the fold, the Clippers could make a push up the Western Conference standings.
Lou Williams’ scoring numbers have held strong even with Griffin back, and he has earned the right to be considered in the All-Star conversation.
Offensive brilliance
Lou Williams is a scorer, first and foremost. He won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2014-15 due to his incredible ability to score in isolation. Lou Will might not have the size or defensive ability to start at shooting guard. However, he has somehow taken his scoring ability to another level this season.
Williams is not only averaging a career-high in points per game — his efficiency is also at career-best levels. He has a True Shooting Percentage of 61.2 percent — an elite mark for any player, but one that is especially mind-boggling for an undersized combo guard. Williams is also creating more for others than he ever has before, averaging a career-high 5.0 assists per game.
Furthermore, Williams has only improved as the season goes on. He averaged 21.1 points per game in 14 November games, and 25.2 points per game in his 14 games in December. Williams is currently averaging 31.6 points per game and 5.9 assists per game in January. He punctuated his career year with the best scoring night of his 13 years in the NBA:
Lou Williams has been the best and most consistent player for a playoff team and has single-handedly kept them in the playoff picture. However, his competition for an All-Star spot will certainly be difficult.
The competition
While Lou Williams is having a fantastic season, he, unfortunately, is competing in a crowded field. Making the Western Conference All-Star team as a guard in this decade has been brutally tough — just ask Mike Conley.
Stephen Curry, James Harden and Russell Westbrook are locks regardless of the breakdown of the fan vote. Jimmy Butler also seems all but guaranteed to make the team given his incredible play for the Minnesota Timberwolves this year.
The remaining guards in the Western Conference all match up relatively favorably with Lou Will. Klay Thompson is having another excellent season. Damian Lillard is leading another team on the fringes of playoff contention, and his backcourt mate C.J. McCollum is also a fringe All-Star. Devin Booker is also having a great year, despite not leading his team to the same kind of record as the Clippers. While Lou Williams might not make the All-Star game above some of those more famous names, his play definitely warrants consideration.
Future outlook
The Los Angeles Clippers have an interesting decision ahead regarding Lou Williams. According to Yahoo! Sports‘ Shams Charania, the Clippers are in the midst of extension discussions with Williams and his camp.
The Clippers will have difficult decisions to make this offseason. With DeAndre Jordan likely to decline his player option and enter free agency, the Clippers will have precious little cap space with which to maneuver this offseason.
While the DeAndre Jordan decision will dominate the front office conversation for the Clippers, the team managed to strike gold with Lou Williams. Even though he might cool off as the season wears on, the trend so far this year has been in the opposite direction.
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If the team can find a reasonable middle ground with Lou Williams, they should jump on the chance to hold on to their borderline All-Star guard.